Ludhiana blast case accused held with drone, 1.6 kg heroin
Police said the accused was in contact with Pakistani smugglers and had brought the drone from Delhi around 4 months ago
The special task force (STF) of Punjab Police have arrested one of the Ludhiana bomb blast case accused with a drone, 1.6 kg of heroin, a .32 bore pistol, a .315 bore rifle, a Samsung tab and a Hyundai Creta SUV.
The arrested man has been identified as Lakhbir Singh alias Lakha of Chak Mishri Khan village of Amritsar. Police said the accused had been in contact with Pakistani smugglers and had brought the drone from Delhi around four months ago. The accused had been involved in the illegal smuggling of drugs and weapons, the police added.
The accused was arrested during an operation launched against drone-based smuggling from across the border by a team led by deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Vawinder Mahajan.
Addressing a press conference assistant inspector general (AIG), border range, Snehdeep Sharma said, “During the questioning of the accused, he revealed that he had been the smuggling of drugs and weapons for a long time. Lakha has revealed his contacts with Pakistani smugglers.”
The arrested accused has been booked under various sections of the NDPS Act, and the Arms Act at the STF’s Mohali police station said the AIG.
Mahajan said the accused Lakha was already booked in a case registered in May 2022 by the STF. The case was registered under the Arms Act, the Explosives Act and the NDPS Act. “In this case, nine accused were arrested with 5.5 kg of heroin and two Pakistani SIM cards. Lakha was also named in this case. During the questioning of the accused arrested in this case, the Ludhiana bomb blast case was also solved. Lakha will be questioned in this case also once his remand in the drone recovery case is finished,” DSP Mahajan said.
With the arrest of the nine accused, police had found that they all were involved in the Ludhiana court complex bomb blast case. One person was killed, while five others suffered injuries in the blast that took place in December 2021.
“The accused had brought the drone from Delhi around four months ago. There was a technical problem in the flying machine and the accused got it fixed. The accused was arrested on Monday night when he was readying to test the drone for the smuggling of drugs and weapons from across the border,” said a senior police official, privy to the investigation.
The other arrested nine members of the module had also been sending their drones to Pakistan to get the smuggling of arms, explosives and drugs.
One more drone shot down
The troopers of the border security force (BSF) have gunned down one more Pakistani drone which had entered the Indian airspace on Monday night.
The drone was recovered in Bhaini Rajputan village of Amritsar after it was shot down by the BSF personnel. The BSF has recovered 2 kg of heroin which was being smuggled by the drone.
This is the fifth drone shot down by the BSF troops in the Amritsar sector in the period of the last four days.
